


In Sickness and in Health

by justjynxy



Category: Free!
Genre: Domestic, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Marriage, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 09:08:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2423144
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justjynxy/pseuds/justjynxy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They stood at the altar, hand-in-hand,  gazing into one another’s eyes and exchanging sweet, silent, ‘I love yous.’ It was the happiest moment of their lives.  The moment where they would finally come together as one.  It was the start of a whole new chapter and neither of them could wait for it to begin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Sickness and in Health

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own Free! or anything to do with it. This is for entertainment purposes only. Also, this is my very first fic- ever. I know I'm not the best at writing, but I just felt that this was too cute to pass up. Maybe I'm just a romantic dweeb, idk. Have fun. This was meant to be a short couple of paragraphs but ended up turning into..well.. something a lot more.

They stood at the altar, hand-in-hand, gazing into one another’s eyes and exchanging sweet, silent, ‘I love yous.’ It was the happiest moment of their lives. The moment where they would finally come together as one. It was the start of a whole new chapter and neither of them could wait for it to begin.

——————-

Just five short years ago, neither one of them would have expected that the other would have such a great impact on his own life. Just five short years ago, they had barely interacted - if at all. A stolen glance here and there, a casual smile across the room, but that’s about as far as it ever went. Sousuke was part of his own team, and Makoto his. Although there was some interaction between the two teams, for some reason these two just never found the time to get to know each other one-on-one. 

Sousuke had heard things about Makoto, mostly from Rin, but he shrugged it off for the most part. However, even with only minimal interaction between the two, Sousuke was always intrigued. 

Makoto had heard things, too, of course. At that time, he wished he could say something about the other swimmer’s shoulder. He was worried for him, and his face clearly showed his concern even if Sousuke hadn’t seen it. 

Since then, the two of them shipped off to college and started their own lives. Little did either of them know that fate was about to pull some strings and bring them together. It just so happened that Sousuke ended up going to the same college as Makoto, and, seeing that his was the only face Sousuke recognized as he walked into the large classroom, he took the seat next to him. 

Silence turned into idle chat, idle chat turned into passing notes, note passing turned into phone number exchanges and attempts to stifle laughter during seminars. Somewhere along the way, they began studying together, walking to school together, getting coffee together.

Little by little the two who used to be nothing more than strangers began a strong friendship with one another which ended up kindling something more. Neither of them were really sure when any of this began, but it lit a fire in both of their hearts that couldn’t possibly be put out. 

Sousuke had been fidgeting all day, something was on his mind and Makoto could tell. He slipped a small note into Sousuke’s hand, his own hand covering the other male’s for a short time before giving it a squeeze and returning to his studies. ‘What’s wrong?’ the note read. 

Sousuke’s brows knitted together and finally, after clenching his teeth for a while, he blurted out, “Move in with me, Tachibana!” Of course, this caused a complete halt in the entire classroom. The professor turned around, shocked. Sousuke, however, seemed just as shocked as everyone else in the room. Meanwhile, Makoto was a mess, making a desperate attempt to hide his cherry red face behind a book that was far too small to hide really anything. Sousuke swallowed roughly and took his seat once more. He couldn’t bear to look at anyone.

He continued to evade Makoto for the rest of the day; he wasn’t quite ready to be completely shot down, which he knew was coming. Who wouldn’t? _Making such a spectacle out of our relationship like that in class.. Who the fuck does that, Yamazaki?_ he chastised himself as he rested his head against a vending machine.

Finally, from the back, a panting Makoto slowly wrapped his arms around the slightly larger boy. He huffed, breathless, “I’ve been looking for you.” A few tender kisses trailed along Sousuke’s shoulder blades and up his neck, eventually stopping at his ear to whisper in that sweet voice of his, “Yes.” That was it. Nothing more was needed.

Sousuke whirled around to face the other, eyes locking onto Makoto’s, “Are you sure this is what you want?”

"I want nothing more," Makoto assured, wreathed in smiles.

They grew closer and closer over the years; Makoto would accompany Sousuke to his physical therapy and do whatever he could to help around the house. At first, this frustrated Sousuke because, fuck, he wasn’t some helpless baby. After months of letting it boil inside, he had finally had enough and confronted Makoto about it. However, Sousuke soon came to realize that it wasn’t because Makoto thought he couldn’t do it by himself, but because Makoto simply cared. Makoto was.. he was just that way. 

After their initial “fight”, they really had no other fights per se, except the occasional, “I’ll do the dishes, you go sit.” To which Sousuke would always, without fail, protest to. Somehow they would always get into these little quarrels of, “No, you worked today, I’ll do it.” “Yes, but you made dinner.” “That doesn’t matter. Sit.” Makoto would win these fights about 90% of the time, usually ending the fight by spraying Sousuke with water until he was soaking wet, then falling into a fit of laughter.

 _Fuck,_ Sousuke thought. _He’s just too fucking cute_.

Days turned into years, and they gradually fell more and more in love with one another. Today was the day. Today, Sousuke was going to ask Makoto to marry him. 

Makoto returned from school, finding a fidgeting Sousuke waiting for him in the living room. It seemed he was fiddling with something in his pocket, but Makoto was none-the-wiser. 

"Are you feeling better?" Makoto fretted, it looked like Sousuke was utterly uncomfortable, just as he looked in the morning when Makoto left. 

"I lied," Sousuke admitted. "I wasn’t sick. I-" he trailed off, averting his gaze.

"You? What’s wrong?" Makoto dropped his bag to the floor carelessly, moving in a swift manner to sit next to his boyfriend. Slender fingers trailed along the larger male’s skin, making calming circular motions on his back.

"Fuck, Tachibana…" he said, breathy. "I love you so fucking much. I just.. I can’t do this anymore."

Makoto stopped, drawing his fingers back and resting his hands in his lap. Swallowing roughly, he gave a thin smile and replied tremulously, “I understand.” _Not now. Not now, Makoto, don’t you dare break down right now. Not right here._

Apparently Sousuke caught the look on Makoto’s face and realized that the way he had worded it made Makoto think he was breaking it off.

"No, I don’t think you do," he uttered, grabbing the other’s face and cupping his cheeks. With strong fingers latching onto olive locks, Sousuke pulled Makoto forward and pressed a rough kiss to his lips.Makoto’s lips parted, hot breath lingering on Sousuke’s tongue as it explored the inside of his mouth. As they parted, a long strand of dribble was left hanging between their two mouths, eventually breaking as they stared at each other, breathless.

After wiping his mouth, Sousuke fumbled around and fished through his pocket to retrieve a small black box. Makoto stared in awe as Sousuke opened the box (clumsily - seriously, he almost dropped the fucking thing as he was pulling it out because his hands were so damn shaky). 

With bated breath, Sousuke finally said, “Well..? Will ya..?” To which Makoto replied, tears threatening to fall, “Yes.”

Sousuke couldn’t help it. Strong arms wrapped around Makoto and the both of them laughed happily. One arm still wrapped around Makoto, the other moved to cup his cheek, brushing away the fresh tears with his thumb. _I’m so fucking in love with you._

"Are you sure this is what you want?" he questioned.

"I want nothing more," Makoto affirmed, giving the same exact response as he did those years ago when Sousuke asked him to move in.

From that day forward, Makoto never took the ring off, not once. Sousuke caught him many times just staring at it with this huge goofy grin on his face and, of course, Sousuke just fell even harder. Every time. Without fail. Just when he thought it wasn’t possible to fall any deeper, Makoto did something to prove him wrong.

Often times, their friends would relentlessly tease Sousuke that ‘it wasn’t a true marriage proposal,’ and that, ‘you didn’t _really_ ask the proper way!’ But Makoto would always chime in, “He did it in his own way. It was really… _him._ ” Just because he didn’t say the exact phrase, “Would you marry me?” didn’t mean that it was any less of a marriage proposal.

But even so, this seemed to be one of the thoughts in the back of Sousuke’s mind. What if Makoto was just saying that? What if he would have rather had a regular proposal?

Suddenly, “Makoto?”

"…"

"Makoto, are you asleep?"

"…No, what’s wrong? Are you okay?" he shot up, looking at the other with concern.

"No, it’s— I’m fine I just.." he paused and chewed his lip, sitting up and changing his position to face Makoto. Gently grabbing for Makoto’s hand, Sousuke pressed kisses to his wrist, then his palm, and each one of his fingers before speaking the question on his mind, "Will you marry me?"

"You already asked," Makoto reminded with a soft chortle.

"No, not like this.. I want to do it right. We’re not gonna half-ass anything. Makoto. Will you marry me?"

"…My answer will always be yes."

———————-

Now, today, they would finally be saying their vows in front of family, friends, and the whole universe if it cared enough to listen. After five years, they would finally say ‘I do.’

"We are gathered here today to join these two men in joyous matrimony."

Makoto bounced on the balls of his feet, unable to contain his excitement. Sousuke smiled knowingly, gazing at his wonderful, beautifully handsome partner. All of the love in his world was right here. Right in front of him. He could only just barely hear the words of the one joining them.

Sousuke thought back on how far they came, from being almost complete strangers, to becoming friends, and now… now Makoto was going to be his husband. He was right there in front of him all along and he didn’t even realize it. Makoto, who had been there through his worst times after dealing with physical therapy, surgeries, and the aftermath of those things. Makoto, who was so patient in dealing with him even after he blew up on him for doting over him too much. Makoto, who was right by his side during his times of struggle. All that they’ve gone through together to get here… it was all worth it. So worth it. _I love you more than anything this world has to offer._

As he stared into those excited hues of green, Sousuke’s eyes brimmed with tears for the very first time. And as they said their ‘I do’s’, they overflowed with joy and he just lost it. He was crying, letting it all out. Makoto moved forward, took Sousuke’s face gently in his hands and kissed away the tears. They were both a happy mess.

"You may now kiss your husband." That was all he needed to hear. Through tears of joy, Sousuke grabbed his husband by the waist and pulled him in to share their first, passionate kiss as husbands.

"I love you so much," Makoto hiccuped.

"I love you too, you big dork."


End file.
